Updated 26 May 2011

WIRKSWORTH Parish Records 1600-1900

James Beeson's Cashbook 1861

With great generosity, Michael Hart donated a Wirksworth cashbook to
the webmaster, instead of Ebaying it. He describes it in the following way:
The document is an old (1861) Cash Book adapted to 'Dr Brewer's
Book-Keeping'.
On the front cover, there is a label, bearing some very fine
calligraphy with the name 'Mr J W Beeson's Academy' and then
'Coldwell Street, Wirksworth'.
The label is signed in ink: ' Walter Meller'.
Inside there are various cash transaction entries in a beautiful
rolling script. The entries refer to 'Norwich' and begin in
January 1861.
Transcription made atEadar dha Fhadail, Outer Hebrides, May 2006

Transcribed at
Ardroil May 06
Outer Hebrides

Anyone who can help the webmaster with any details about this
mysterious little book, or the people mentioned here, please
contact:

Contents:

The Cashbook

size 8.25 x 12 inches

History of the Cashbook

A label on the front of the book seems to indicate that
it was used at sometime by Walter Meller, a pupil at James W.Beeson's
Academy in Coldwell Street, Wirksworth. James Beeson came from Derby
around 1860 to set up a private school for children after they left
state education at 11 years old. Walter Meller was baptised
in 1848 in Wirksworth, and at the age of 14 in 1862 he was
perhaps using this old cashbook as a guide to learn book-keeping.
In 1851 Walter was staying with his grandparents Joseph and Hannah
in Wigwell Grange, in 1861 with his parents John and Elizabeth
in Brailsford and in 1871 was lodging in Litchurch as a joiner
and builder. The cashbook itself is dated 1861, and entitled
"Norwich" at the head of each page. White's 1857 Directory of
Derbyshire lists: Joseph Stone, (Attorney),
in Market Place, Wirksworth heading:
"Norwich Union & Law, Fire and Life Office". Market Place
joins Coldwell Street, and the Norwich Office was close to the
Academy. James Beeson and Joseph Stone were probably well known
to each other, and Stone gave this old cashbook to Beeson for
teaching purposes.

All 10 pages of the cashbook are written in fine copperplate
script, and entries begin on January 1st 1861.

End of Transcription.

J.W.Beeson was also a photographer. Here are 2 sides of a Carte de Visite
sent by JW (see the email dated 26 May 2011). The back bears
JW's icon for his surname, Beeson. Could the unidentified child
have been one of his own children?

[1] Clerk of the works for the Midland Railway in Bedford.
[2] Artist/sculptor in 1901 Census.
[3] Piano teacher in 1901 Census.
[4] John MELLER's Will.
[5] see MI QC194 in Wirksworth cemetery area C
"[QC194]..... In/memory of/JOHN MELLER/who died October 21 l875/
aged 70 years/also of/ELIZABETH/relict of the above/who died
June 16th 1885/aged 63 years/also of/JOHN FREDERIC/son of the above/
who died April 28 1857/aged 7 years/He was interred/ in Ecclesfield
Churchyard/Yorkshire.(Marble headstone & Limestone kerb)"

Emails

I hope you won't mind me asking you if you have any information on a
Mr J W Beeson of Wirksworth.

I deal in antiques & collectables and have a particular interest in
ephemera. I was just about to eBay a document in my collection when
I realised that I had no idea where Wirksworth was -- hence, looking
it up on the web.

As usual, once started I became more and more interested in the
background to the document and wondered if you had any information
relating to it.

The document is an old (1861) Cash Book adapted to 'Dr Brewer's
Book-Keeping'.

On the front cover, there is a label, bearing some very fine
calligraphy with the name 'Mr J W Beeson's Academy' and then
'Coldwell Street, Wirksworth'.

The label is signed in ink: ' Walter Meller'.

Inside there are various cash transaction entries in a beautiful
rolling script. The entries refer to 'Norwich' and begin in
January 1861.

Do you have any information about the Academy and what the
connection with Norwich would have been?

James BEESON was a schoolmaster who arrived in Wirksworth from
Derby about 1861, and set up (with his wife Anna) an Academy or
Private School, situated in Coldwell Street, in the town centre.
"Norwich" refers to the Norwich Union & Law (a Fire & Life Office)
run by Joseph Stone, a lawyer, situated in the Market Place nearby. I
can only trace one Walter Meller, who would have been 3 in 1861.

I am keen to collect Wirksworth ephemera, and will probably bid for
this book on Ebay.

There's something quite awesome about tracing a document like this back
through the past to the original owner.

Last night, I was side-tracked from eBay (even!) and spent a couple
of hours browsing through sites relating to Wirksworth. It certainly
has an interesting past and I'm hoping now that I can visit it this
summer, perhaps stay for a couple of days and explore the local area.

There's no need to bid for this item on eBay. If you email your
address I'll gladly post it to you - no charge. It's a piece of
Wirksworth's history and belongs in the right collection.

That's extremely generous of you, I don't know how to say
thanks. I've been studying Wirksworth for 11 years now, and have
built up a picture gallery of over 800 items, a lot of them from Ebay
postcards. I like to think the website is the largest and most
detailed study of an English Parish on the Internet. I don't like
blowing my own trumpet, so have a look at this:www.wirksworth.org.uk/77-FAN-3.htm

I will prepare a page for the website about the cash book, some
scans, perhaps transcribe it, and try to follow any leads and names
and link them to the Census, Parish registers etc. Let me know if you
have a website, so I can link to it when I list my thanks to you.

I'll post the cash book to you on Monday, Special Delivery, to ensure
its safe arrival on Tuesday.

I look forward to seeing the end result.

PS: I enjoyed your website very much. It is packed with information and
obviously a treasure-trove of information for amateur and professional
historians alike. I don't know about 'blowing your own trumpet', I
think you qualify for the Glen Miller Orchestra!

I have just discovered your website and am particularly interested in
the cashbook owned by Walter Meller. Walter's grand parents Joseph
and Hannah are in my family tree and I may have some more details for
you. Joseph was christened on 26th July 1778 at St James Twycross
Leicestershire (IGI batch no. C034861)

He married Hannah Toone on 17/9/1798 at Whitwick in Leicestershire
(IGI batch no. 7903630).

Their son John was christened on 6/3/1805 at St James Twycross. (IGI
batch no. C034861) (This date is closer to the 1871 census entry you
quote on your site)

I am a descendant of John's elder brother William who stayed in
Twycross; my maiden name was Meller,
Hope this is useful,

I'm afraid I don''t know any more about Walter. I only found him on
the 1851 census living with his grand-parents. I think his parents
married after his father had left Twycross. I have found IGI
christening records for four children of Joseph and Hannah all
christened at St James' Twycross under the same batch no.,
they are: John as we've said,
William 20/6/1799 (died 1875)
Elizabeth 20/7/1800
Maria 18/9/1803 (died 14/10/1803)

The only other thing I have so far is that Joseph appears to be one
of at least 7 children born in Twycross to parents called William
Mellor and Elisabeth(no dates). I hope to get to the Leicestershire
Records office sometime soon to see if I can find more (but don't
have much time available for that!) Will let you know if I find any
more. I would like to know why Joseph and Hannah moved to Wirksworth
- perhaps they already had relatives there, so I will keep looking
when I get the chance, and will be keeping an eye on your website.

I have just found the BMD index for Walter's parent's marriage. Their
marriage was registered in the district of Derby in the first quarter
of 1847. They appear to have moved around a bit. The census records
indicate Walter was born in Wirksworth about 1848, his brother John
Frederick was born in Manchester in 1850. Walter his mother and brother
were back in Wirksworth for the 1851 census. Two sisters were born at
Cowley Manor, Ecclesfield, Yorkshire in the mid 1850's and an MI you
have listed for Wirksworth cemetary shows John Frederic was buried there
in 1857:
"[QC194]..... In/memory of/JOHN MELLER/who died October 21 l875/aged 70 years/also of/ELIZABETH/relict of the above/who died June 16th 1885/aged 63 years/also of/JOHN FREDERIC/son of the above/who died April 28 1857/aged 7 years/He was interred/ in Ecclesfield Churchyard/Yorkshire.(Marble headstone & Limestone kerb)"

By 1861 the family was back in Derbyshire. Your Derbyshire wills site
also indicates that there is a will for Walter's father John of Wirksworth
1876. and maybe one for Walter (spelt Mellor) of Glossop 1918 which may
give you a bit of a story!

The later censuses show Walter married an Emma Dennis in Bedford in 1876,
they settled there and he became a clerk of works for the Midland Railway.
They had 4 children Florence, Gertrude, Edith and John. In 1901 Florence
was shown to be an artist/sculpter and Gertrude a piano teacher.

Dear John,
Please find attached scans of both the front and reverse of a carte de visite
that I recently purchased. Although the subject is sadly not identified, you
will see that the photographer is the JW Beeson that you have written about
on a couple of occasions. You have written about his running a school in
Wirksworth, but were you aware that he was a photographer too? I wonder
whether you'ce come across any other photographs taken by him? I've been
doing some of my own research on his time in Derby, but I'd appreciatre
anything further that you might have on this interesting man, please.
You are welcome to use these images on your web site of you wish.
Regards and best wishes, Brett

I feel I should correct your post a little. The carte de visite would have
been taken by JW Beeson, but most likely as a commercial photographer, and
least likely sent by him to anybody. The name carte de visite, although
originally referring to its use in that way - i.e. as a kind of visiting
card for the wealthy - in the late 1850s and early 1860s, quickly became
redundant as more and more folk availed themselves of the cheap method of
portraiture.

I think it very unlikely that this portrait depicts his daughter, but there
is a slim chance, I suppose. It's a rather difficult one to date, because
it is a pretty unusual format. However, the rounded corners at the top, in
conjunction with square corners at the borrom, suggest to me that it was
taken around 1873-1876. It is very rare to find rounded corners from CDV
portraits taken before 1873, and their use became more popular from about
1874 onwards. They were to make it easier to insert the photographs into
album slots. The square corners on CDVs died out almost completely in the
late 1870s, and did not reappear until shortly before the turn of the
century, just priot to the demise of the CDV altogether.

If I am correct about the date, and the child looks to me to be around a
year old, then he/she would have been born around 1871-1875. From what I
can tell Beeson's last child, daughter Adela May, was born in July or early
August 1869 - probably a little too early, although it is remotely possible
that she's the child depicted. However, if Beeson had gone to the trouble
and expense of having card mounts printed, not to mention having purchased
a camera and equipment capable of taking, developing and printing out carte
de visite portraits, I imagine that he would at least have taken some
portraits commercially to recoup his expenses.

The research that I've done on JW Beeson has unearthed a lot of material,
in particular from the newspapers. I found an advertisement and article in
The Derby Mercury of 29 April 1874 referring to a "panoramic view of
Wirksworth, from the Gilkin: photographed by Mr James W. Beeson, Wirksworth"
which was a massive print measuring "2 ft. 8in. by 7in." on sale for
between 10s. and 12s. 6d., depending on finish. This date appears to
correlate well with my estimate for the portrait, and I imagine by the
paucity of records, and examples of his work, that he must have pursued
photography only for a rather short period.

The newspaper extracts from his years in Derby demonstrate that he was
quite capable of turning his hand to many skills, and make the most of
opportunities that presented themselves. Perhaps his interests moved on
from photography to other things. I think it more likely, however, that he
found the business was not as remunerative as he had hoped. The phenomenal
growth in the industry during the 1860s was not sustained through the 1870s,
and many photographers either practiced photography as a sideline, or only
stayed in business for very short periods, finding the competition just too
stiff to sustain a regular income.

Very clever of you to have worked out the Bee-Sun motif! Yes, it is one of
the more light-hearted and less pompous that I've come across.

Thank you for the offer of the PDF. I have seen some images, but probably
not the ones to which you are referring, so yes please, I would be
interested, and would appreciate your forwarding the file to me.